Misguided Heart

Five

Aston

“Shelby, girl, I am telling you the truth. He literally grabbed my hand and we walked across the street together. Well, I guess you could say he more-or-less, led me across the street. It was something straight out of a movie.”

Shelby and I had met one fine summer day at Girl Scout Camp. Yes, I said it, Girl Scout Camp. We were ten years old, with the equivalent of Girl Scout Barbie for our mothers. Neither one of them would even know how to dress for the occasion of camping, but if it entailed buying a new outfit, they were all for it. We were assigned to the same bunk for the whole six weeks that we were there.

Her mom and mine were instantly connected at the hip. The minute they both broke out their pink Caboodles, they were friends for life. This made it quite easy for Shelby and me to become friends. Besides the fact that we were nothing like our mothers, we were one in the same. We had a blast that summer and ever since we had been inseparable. Her mother had married rich and it just so happened that her father had known my mom from high school. We lived a block away from each other and we went to the same school all the way up until graduation.

Since graduation, Shelby and I slowly drifted apart for a while. My mother had died from breast cancer the summer after graduation and I fell into a deep depression, ignoring everything and everyone. Eventually, when I came back to reality, Shelby had called and told me that her parents had divorced a short time after. Since then, Shelby and I agreed to never lose touch with each other ever again.

Shelby now lived in a small house down the street from her mom in Chandler and she owned a small travel agency in Gilbert. As for me, I moved out exactly six months after my mother died, and never looked back.

I could hear her sigh on the other line. “Girl you are so lucky. You’ve got pretty boy who is all googily eyed over you there, mister I can’t get over you, but I am getting married over here. I mean seriously what do you feed these boys? I can’t even get a date to the wedding for crying out loud.”

I rolled my eyes. “Shelby Graves, you are the most dramatic person I have ever met, I swear. I thought you were going to ask Davis to go with you? Wait, let me guess. He called, something was said, and you decided not to take him.” I rolled my eyes through the phone. Shelby always, and I mean always, found something wrong with every guy she has ever liked. I wonder why she was alone? I rolled my eyes and giggled to myself.

“Hey! Come on now, that’s not fair. Everything was going great. We were hanging out a lot, but he started getting extremely clingy and I never realized it until our date last week, but he is too short. I just couldn’t do it.”

This is exactly why she was alone. “Shelby, just take someone. Who cares who it is. Girl, if anything find someone who will give it to you good, just so I don’t have to hear you whine and complain about not getting any. I’m not even bringing… Wait, yes I am bringing a date. I’ll have to call you back.”

“But… wait!” I heard her protest before I hung up the receiver.

I slipped my shoes back on, checked my reflection in the mirror, swiped some lip-gloss across my bottom lip and headed straight for Mr. Sloan Holden’s office.

I stopped a few feet short of his office and almost changed my mind. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and lifted my hand to knock on his door. I kind of, sort of, ended up knocking on his father’s forehead instead. I was completely mortified and covered my face as I profusely apologized.

“I am so incredibly sorry, Mr. Holden. I closed my eyes for just a second and then there you were.” I just kept shaking my head in disbelief.

A smile appeared across his face. “It is quite all right Ms. Boyd, I completely forgive you. Now if you will excuse me, I have a meeting to get to. Good day.”

All I could see besides the enormous grin spread across Sloan’s face, was his hand waving me into his office. “Hurry up and get in here, before you hurt someone else.”

“Oh, you are so funny, maybe you could laugh less and be more helpful.” I smirked.

I knew the angle from his leather chair sitting directly across from him would give him a perfect view of my dangerously, long legs. I strutted over to the chair, making sure to show off every inch of them. How could he say no to me then?

“So, I was wondering, if you’re not busy four weekends from now, would you like to accompany me to my ex-boyfriend’s wedding?” I slowly slid one leg over the other (all Sharon Stone like) and I could see his eyes follow them closely.

“Why Ms. Boyd, are you asking me to be your date?”

I half smiled and pretended to blush, like I had just been caught doing something bad. “I sure am Mr. Holden.” I winked.

He stood up and walked over to me, perching himself on the edge of his desk. I could smell his cologne and it took everything inside me not to ravage him right there on his marble top desk. I sat back and drank him all in, like a tall glass of red wine, or white, whatever you prefer. I wanted him and I could tell by the cat and mouse game he was playing with me, that he wanted me too.

“I would love to Aston.” He smiled, stood up and walked back behind his desk. “Have your assistant give my assistant the details.”

“Will do Sir, thank you.” I slowly stood up and as I knew he was watching me, I walked away as sultry as I could, without being too noticeable. There was definitely an undeniable sexual chemistry between us, one I wanted to explore. God knows I needed it.

I spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone with Shelby, telling her all about my clever seduction. I tried to get some work done in between laughs, but I found myself being too distracted to concentrate on anything.

I hung up with Shelby an hour before I was due to leave work, but at the last minute I decided to stay and make up some hours. I didn’t want my newfound crush to get in the way of my new job. I glanced over at the clock just as it hit six and realized that I was famished. I reached for my phone to call Annie into my office, but it rang for me instead.

“Ms. Boyd.” I sighed.

“Hi Ms. Boyd, its Annie. I just noticed what time it was, so I took it upon myself to order in some Chinese. It should be here in about twenty minutes. I also wanted to let you know that I have a message for you from Ariel over at Mr. Holden’s office.”

“Annie, honey, how many times do I have to tell you, when it’s after five, you can just come in my office to talk to me.” I paused to wait for an answer. “So, could you please come in here?” I asked politely.

“Yes, Ms. Boyd, I’ll be right in.”

A moment later Annie was dragging her over worked pint sized butt through my door and into the small leather chair across from me. She looked overly tired today and I couldn’t help but wonder if something was bothering her. So, being who I am and the fact that I always say what I want, I decided to ask.

“Annie, you look tired. Are you feeling okay?” I was truly concerned.

“I’m okay. I just moved into a new condo and my neighbors seriously stay up all night and sleep all day. I am exhausted.” She yawned.

“Well, you can head out now if you want. I’m just going to be reading manuscripts all night anyway, and I can get my own coffee tonight. Go home, go to bed and get some sleep.” I shooed her away with my hands. “Oh wait, before you go, do you have that message from Ariel?” I was beyond curious as to what Mr. Holden couldn’t tell me in person.

“Oh, yeah, I am supposed to check with you to see what night this week works for you to join him for a meeting. He gave me three nights for suggestions, Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday?” She looked at me with questioning eyes.

“I’ll get back to him myself. Thanks for the message. Now get home and get some rest. See you tomorrow morning.” I waved a good-bye and reached into my bottom desk drawer for my purse.

The Chinese food delivery boy showed up almost an hour later, when I was already three cups deep into my first pot of coffee. I paid him and choked down as much as my Java filled stomach would allow. I was just about to inhale another bite of lo mein, when I heard a faint knock on my office door. I looked at the clock on my computer screen and couldn’t help but wonder who in the hell was still at the office at eight o’clock at night? I shrugged and walked the ten feet to open it.

“What are you still doing here?” Sloan's voice echoed through my brain.

“Oh, you know, I thought I would take in the scenery.” I laughed. “I have about a million and one manuscripts to read and they aren’t going to read themselves.” I smiled.

“Well, I just finished my conference call, do you want to order some take out and attack the stack together?” He grinned.

I smiled back and pointed to my desk, where there were at least three open boxes of Chinese take out. “I knew it was going to be a late night.” I frowned. “But you’re more than welcome to come in and partake in some delicious Chinese food.” I secretly hoped he would accept.

He pushed past me and slipped his jacket off, folding it over the leather couch in the corner of my office. “Where do we start?” He asked as he grabbed a box of orange chicken and sat cross-legged underneath the window.

I threw a manuscript at him and grabbed the one I had been reading. “You can start on that one.” I pulled up a piece of carpet next to him and nudged him with my elbow. We sat in silence for quite sometime. I was almost done with the manuscript I had started earlier that day when he suddenly had the urge to start a conversation.

“So, you never got back to my assistant about the meeting.” He didn’t look up from his work.

“I was actually going to call you back, but I got wrapped up.” I held up the folded over manuscript.

He smiled his impossibly irresistible smile. “Well, I was thinking Saturday would work the best.”

I knew where this was headed. He was asking me out on a date, but I decided to play it coy. “Saturday, for a meeting huh? That seems like an odd day?” I looked at him out of the corner of my eye.

“That’s because I’m asking you out on a date Aston.” He finally looked up from his manuscript.

I paused briefly, “If that’s the case, then yes. What did you have in mind?’

“How about I pick you up around eight and we’ll head up to Sea Saw?”

My mouth dropped open in shock. I tried to suppress my surprise before answering him. “That sounds great.” I smiled as I turned back to my work. Sea Saw was one of the most expensive restaurants in Scottsdale. They specialized in a ten-course meal, with the works. Every woman in Arizona knew that if a guy asked you out and took you to Sea Saw, he was either proposing or was extremely into you. I was guessing it wasn’t the former, but I would take the latter.

Sloan and I didn’t end up leaving the office until a bit after one in the morning. We said our good-byes after he walked me to my car in the parking garage. I watched, baffled as he walked away. This man had a way with my insides that made my heart and some other important body parts feel giddy. I drove the 20.2 miles it took me to get home in complete and utter bliss. I pulled into my garage and sighed knowing that I wouldn’t be seeing Sloan for at least eight more hours.

I swung open the door to my house and was greeted by my number one guy, my bulldog Bugsy. We quickly grabbed some water and ran up the eighteen stairs to my bedroom. I threw my clothes across my room and fell onto my 600 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets. We snuggled up in close proximity and off to sleep we went.

My dreamless night led into a sleepless morning as the sun poking through my curtains, stung my eyelids like acid on bare skin. I immediately rolled over and tried to shut out the blazing heat berating my face. I groaned knowing that I didn’t want to emerge from my soft comfortable confines of my king sized bed, but I rolled over and checked my alarm clock anyway. Oh man, it was seven already and I slowly realized, that I was going to be a tad bit late to the office today.

I threw myself into a quick shower and drank only one cup of coffee, unlike my usual three, before heading out for work. It was your typical hot and sticky mid May day. The weather forecast predicted it to be a record breaking one hundred and twelve degrees and I was thankful that my old Honda Accord’s air conditioner was still sticking through it with me. It was definitely shaping up to be a poolside afternoon. The drive was extra long and tedious, but I eventually made it and I didn’t even care that I was over thirty minutes late.

As I pulled into the parking garage, I could smell the faint aroma of smoke coming through my vents. I glanced around the garage to see if there were any cars smoking around me, when I suddenly felt extremely hot air spraying onto my skin.

I immediately reached for the temperature gauge and turned off all the controls, when sparks suddenly began shooting straight out of the hood of my car. I turned into my space, turned off the ignition, pulled out my keys and ran the ten feet to the nearest elevators. I rummaged through my purse to find my cell phone to call 911. My voice raised a few octaves as the operator asked what my emergency was, and I could barely catch my breath to let her know that my car was on fire in an underground parking garage. I was now in full-fledged panic mode. Of course this all happened, just after I was singing the praises of the cute little piece of shit.

Ten minutes later the fire trucks with sirens blaring were at my aide, extinguishing the small fire, that eventually had consumed my whole car. Almost everyone in the building had come down to see what the commotion was, and when they found out it was me, eyes were rolling from here to Baghdad. I tended to be a bit of a klutz around the office and in life.

After the fire was completely extinguished and the smoke had settled, the patient firemen called a tow truck to take my car to the wrecking yard up the street. They explained to me that there was faulty wiring from some work that had been done to the air conditioner in the past. Chalk one up to the ex-boyfriend who thought he was a mechanic. I gathered what I had out of my trunk and headed inside to work.

What a day, oh what a day. Now I have to go buy a new car. Shit! This wouldn’t have been such a big deal, hell most people would be elated to go car shopping, but when I found out about my promotion, I had gone and bought a house. Making two major purchases in one month does not a good decision make.

Annie was impatiently waiting for me outside of my office when I came sauntering up. “Good morning Ms. Boyd.” She half smiled.

I wondered if she had even heard about the fire or not. “Good morning Annie. Did you get any sleep last night?” At this point I didn’t really care, but I was fairly good at faking emotion.

“I did, thank you for asking. Here are your messages and Mr. Holden, the older Holden, has asked for you to meet him in the conference room in fifteen minutes. Would you like me to get you some coffee?”

Why did he want to meet with me I wondered? “Only if you can hook it up in an IV.” I giggled as her brows arched in confusion. “That was a joke Annie. Yes a cup of coffee would be fantastic, but make it snappy if Jim is waiting for me.”

I slipped into my office and tossed my belonging aside on the small leather couch in the corner. I quickly read my messages and checked the whole five emails I had waiting for me, all before Annie showed up with my coffee. “Thanks Annie. Hold my calls please until I get back.”

I staggered into the conference room a moment later, coffee in hand. “Good morning Mr. Holden, how are you?” I smiled.

“I’m doing well Ms. Boyd, thank you for asking. And you?”

Did I really have to answer? “I have been better Sir, but no complaints.” How soon can I get out of here was all I could think, as I fidgeted in my chair.

“I heard about your car this morning. That is just terrible. I have a proposition for you though, one I think you might like. I have decided that I would like to give you a bonus, let’s call it a promotion bonus, in the form of a new car. How does that sound to you?” Chagrin spread across his face.

“Mr. Holden, I don’t think I could accept that.”

“Well, of course you can young lady; this is not up for discussion. I am telling you I am giving you a car.”

“Well, thank you Mr. Holden, but you really don’t have to do this.” I said confused.

“I know I don’t have to. Ms. Boyd, you have a strong work ethic and you bring a great deal of success to this company and I would like to show you my appreciation. Now Sloan is going to take you down to the dealership in about a half hour. You choose whatever you think suits you best and it will be done.” He began to stand up.

“Sir, will I make the payments to you?” I questioned.

“No, no payments. It will go on the companies account. It’s on me. The only stipulation is that if you ever leave the company, the car will come back to me.” He turned and began walking out of the conference room.

I reached for words, but was at a loss, so I half screamed. “Thank you Mr. Holden.” My face flushed bright red and I twirled in my chair while doing a smaller version of my happy dance. I was getting a new car and I didn’t have to pay a dime for it.

Score!